Q&A After Broadcast from the Miła 18 Excavations

The chief archeologist, Dr. Jack Konik answers the following questions:

• how bing was the bunker?;
• were there also such bunkers on other streets in the ghetto?;
• is it now possible to visit the place?
• will the building uncovered during the research be open to the public after the excavations are completed?
• what else was interesting to find besides the artefacts shown during the tour?;

and many more.

Anielewicz’s bunker at 18 Miła Street – a bunker that no longer exists – was located at the corner of Miła and Dubois Streets in Warsaw’s Muranów district. After heavy fighting during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the fighters of the Jewish Combat Organization had hidden there. On May 8, 1943, they were surrounded by the Germans. In a hopeless situation and without ammunition, they did not want to surrender to the enemy and several dozen of them committed suicide – together with their leader Mordechaj Anielewicz.

Since the beginning of June, the Warsaw Ghetto Museum has been conducting excavations near the former bunker in the neighborhood of Miła – Dubois – Niska – Karmelicka streets in Warsaw’s Muranów district. The research in Miła Street could be an important element of teaching about the history of the ghetto in the future and contribute to changing our knowledge about the history of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.